Summary On 13 March 2000, the owner/operator of a salmon troller slipped and fell while working alone in the vessel's fish hold. The left pant leg of his protective clothing became entangled in the rotating propeller shaft flange. Unable to free himself, his left foot and leg were drawn into the space between the flange and shaft housing and were crushed. He stalled the main engine and stopped the flange's rotation by forcing his right foot into the same limited space in which his left leg was caught. Later, in hospital, his left leg was amputated above the knee and his right foot underwent extensive surgical reconstruction. Ce rapport est galement disponible en franais. Factual Information Description of the Vessel The C- JOY is a commercial salmon troller built in 1978 of moulded fibreglass construction. Below decks forward is crew accommodation. Abaft it is the machinery space, aft of which (and separated from it by a watertight transverse bulkhead) is a refrigerated fish hold, at the after end of which is another watertight transverse bulkhead. Abaft of this bulkhead is a lazarette terminating in a transom stern (see Photo 1). On the weather deck forward is a short foredeck and an enclosed wheelhouse, abaft of which is a main working deck on which is a raised hatch that provides access to the fish hold below it. Near the stern of the vessel is a recessed transverse area, known as the cockpit, where fishing operations are conducted. Photo1. The C-Joy secured to a public dock in Port Alberni, B.C., on 7April 2000. Description of the Fish Hold Photo2. Shaft coupling and coupling bolts. The vessel's fish hold is approximately 4.26m long, 2.5m wide, and 1.73m high. It is divided into eight compartments - three to port, three to starboard, one aft, and one on the centre line - by means of pen boards, removable lengths of aluminum dividers, each of which measures approximately 1m x 200mm. During normal fishing operations, salmon is stowed in these compartments. Beneath the centre line compartment is a recessed longitudinal void space (i.e., shaft well) through which pass the intermediate and propeller shafts connected by a shaft coupling (see Photo 2). This arrangement of shafts and coupling transmits power from the main engine to the vessel's propeller. The shaft well is approximately 3.15m long, 610mm wide, and 310mm high. The distance between the shaft coupling and the sides of the shaft well is approximately 150mm. Access to the shaft well and shaft coupling is by a heavily constructed glass reinforced plastic cover, which extends as a single unit from the forward transverse bulkhead of the fish hold aft to approximately 1.12m forward of the after transverse bulkhead. A four-rung aluminum ladder is fixed between the after starboard side of the raised hatch located on the main working deck and a painted, 1.19m x 510mm x 19mm plywood platform in the fish hold at the base of the ladder. The surface of the platform, which is 40mm above and directly abaft the shaft well, is gouged and worn (see Photo 3). Photo3. Part of the fish hold, looking aft, showing the spatial relationship between the foot of the aluminum ladder, stern gland, shaft well cover, and shaft coupling. Events Leading up to the Occurrence On 13 March 2000, the C - JOY was secured alongside in Port Alberni where its owner/operator worked alone to prepare his vessel to participate in a limited test fishery scheduled for the following day. As part of his work, he removed the cover of the shaft well in order to access the stern gland and replace its packing. Upon completion of this task, he entered the wheelhouse, started the main engine, and engaged gear so that the propeller shafts rotated. Having done so, he left the wheelhouse, walked along the working deck, and descended the ladder into the fish hold to verify that the newly installed stern gland packing was effective in preventing seawater from entering the hull. As the owner/operator reached the platform at the base of the ladder, he lost his footing. His legs went forward from underneath him and the left cuff of his weather protective trousers became entangled in the bolts of the rotating shaft coupling (see Photo 4). The operator's left leg was drawn progressively into the 150mm void between a shaft coupling and the interior port side of the shaft well. In a desperate attempt to stop the coupling from rotating, the owner/operator forced his right foot into the area where his left leg was already caught and was ultimately successful in stalling the main engine. Alone on his vessel and with few people on the surrounding floats, the owner/operator's cries for assistance went unheard for approximately 20minutes. Once he was discovered, he was taken by ambulance to a Port Alberni hospital. Later that day he was transported to a hospital in Victoria, B.C., where his left leg was amputated above the knee and extensive reconstructive surgery performed on his right foot. Vessel Certification Photo 4. Remnant's of the owner/operator's rain pants entangled in the shaft coupling and shaft. At less than 15 gross tons, the C-Joy is exempt from quadrennial inspection by Transport Canada's Marine Safety Branch and the issuance of an SIC29 certificate. Protective Clothing The owner/operator was wearing a pair of weather protective pants commonly known as rain pants, the cuffs of which were worn over the outside of his sea boots in a manner favoured by many west coast fishers. His footwear consisted of sea boots with flat, natural rubber soles, etched to provide traction while walking on wet surfaces.